The Department of Justice recently announced it will be suing North Carolina for House Bill 2--an anti-trans law that requires individuals to use the bathroom of their assigned gender at birth. This is in addition to the other ways that HB 2 hurts the LGBTQ community, such as invalidating several LGBTQ anti-discrimination measures that local North Carolina governments enacted.Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in as US Attorney General just over a year ago, held a press conference this past … [Read more...]

If you haven’t seen Zootopia, go. Despite the fact that it is a Disney animated feature, it deals with some pertinent and broadly applicable social issues with nearly unmatched thoughtfulness. And the thoughtfulness isn’t accidental--the team that made the movie put a lot of effort into crafting it. It’s well worth your time and, as the post below is mostly about the ending of the film, I don’t want to spoil it for you.Furthermore, the use of animals here isn't juvenile, a sort of cutesy Noah … [Read more...]

This week I went to an anti-racism rally here in Lexington, Virginia in response to Ku Klux Klan fliers being dropped around town. It was such a remarkable experience. It was uplifting and awesome for a multitude of reasons. I got to hear people stand and repudiate the KKK. A black Washington and Lee professor stood up and called on us to examine more than just the clearly racist actions of a few; to be introspective in how we are complicit in structural oppression and white supremacy. We stood … [Read more...]

In the aftermath of this morning's tragic terrorist attack in Brussels, each presidential candidate is jumping at the chance to say something profound and earth shattering in defense of all that is good and decent. For Ted Cruz, the word that will change everything is simply "Islam."https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/712253015491645442 In his mind, the Obama administration hasn't described terrorism as Islamic enough. Instead, Obama has lectured us on Islamaphobia, and referred … [Read more...]

I'm starting to come up with new, helpful ways of framing the 2016 Executive Champion Deathmatch (formerly known as the presidential election) and with each new development, the details just get weirder and weirder. At this point, no theory is too wild to explain what could possibly be happening.For instance, Ben Carson, everyone's favorite, lovable, ambien-personified candidate has now dropped out of the race and endorsed Donald Drumpf. As a pair, the two are about as far on the personality … [Read more...]

On social media I passed along a quip that, while Donald Trump is applying to be president with no political experience, listing for even menial entry-level positions include years of experience as prerequisites.Several minutes later, someone I know--a young, high school-educated, lower-class, white male--privately messaged me the following: Give it a rest, loser. Trump’s going to be President and you can’t stop him. ^^ He will send my RACIST co-workers [context note: they are non-white] bac … [Read more...]

Colbert's making jokes about Romney again. It's like 2012 never really left us. #MormonMoment2point0It's enough to make me yearn for the good 'ol days, when Mittens was a regular on The Colbert Report:Like Peculiar People on Facebook:BlogName … [Read more...]

Americans rarely unilaterally agree on anything, but there has risen one important break from that trend; we’re all convinced that the 2016 election is next level bonkers. All of us. Including, apparently, Mitt Romney.As of this post, Romney is posed to make a big speech at the University of Utah tomorrow morning, which has some eager politicos wondering if he’s making some sort of play as a late addition to the race, a wishful thought for anyone feeling hopeless after Donald Drumpf’s dismal … [Read more...]